Quote Originally Posted by Surferbeetle View Post
Although they are only analogies, and many caveats of course apply, I find it helpful to use the concepts of ecological succession and geomorphology when considering the why's of what is occurring.
The succession analogy brings to mind something I call "the running shoe curve". Back when I was a kid your running shoes (we called them sneakers) were made in Japan or Korea. As infrastructure improved and labor force efficiency grew those economies moved on to more profitable lines like simple electronics assembly, and the shoes moved on to Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines. Eventually those economies moved on to the niches now vacated by the Japanese and Koreans in further steps up, and the shoes moved on to Vietnam, Indonesia, Bangladesh. Someday (one hopes) the shoes will be coming out of Zimbabwe, the Congo, Sudan.

Hardly a perfect model and of course it's way more complex than that... but as a target model one can do worse.